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From travel

Overlooking the Death Railway, Kanchanaburi. Photo credits to Techxplore

Travel. I kept hearing the tale about the Death Railway in River Kwai (pronounced as kwe) from friends who have gone to see this legacy. I saw pictures of it on postcards and travel magazines and dreamed of seeing it one day. Last Saturday, it was by invitation that I chanced to finally witness the historical bridge.

A bit of history…

In 1943 thousands of Allied Prisoners of War ( PoW ) and Asian laborers worked on the Death Railway under the imperial Japanese army in order to construct part of the 415 km long Burma-Thailand railway. Most of these men were Australians, Dutch and British and they had been working steadily southwards from Thanbyuzayat (Burma) to link with other PoW on the Thai side of the railway. This railway was intended to move men and supplies to the Burmese front where the Japanese were fighting the British. Japanese army engineers selected the route which traversed deep valleys and hills.

All the heavy work was done manually either by hand or by elephant as earth moving equipment was not available. The railway line originally ran within 50 meters of the Three Pagodas Pass which marks nowadays the border to Burma. However after the war the entire railway was removed and sold as it was deemed unsafe and politically undesirable. The prisoners lived in squalor with a near starvation diet.

They were subjected to captor brutality and thus thousands perished. The men worked from dawn until after dark and often had to trudge many kilometers through the jungle to return to base camp where Allied doctors tended the injured and diseased hence many died. After the war the dead were collectively reburied in the War Cemeteries and will remain forever witness to a brutal and tragic ordeal.

Nowadays tourists and locals flocked this area for site seeing and reminiscing the past– not much Japanese tourists were there that day. Floating restaurants have made it look commercialized, it’s as if you are along Chao Phraya River in Bangkok.

It isn’t that spectacular sight though, yet the story behind is what makes it grand. People set foot on the bridge where the train actually passes. You just have to stay at the side rail when you see it coming right after you. Good thing hubby was there, the height problem never bothered me at all. I felt secured that somebody’s watching my back most of the time.

Under the bridge you may opt to explore the river by paying 100 Baht/person on a motorboat. There were alot of Burmese migrant workers that are trying to earn a living in that area. They either sell fruits, postcards, toys and lottery tickets.

Thank God it never rained that day. I was able to do a little experiment with Canon 500D while being on my acquaintance stage whereas Tony have adjusted quite well with Nikon D40X. Our bonding made it more special as we have something to do in common. Taking photography as hobby and with your hubby doubles the fun.